2. A considerable portion of my income. Without it, Iād be in financial crisis.
3. No income derived from owning my Moogs whatsoever. (does not include ad fees earned on blogs.
4. A hobby or expensive toy to have fun and play with. I have no gigs or music releases Iāve made money from.
5. A tool by which to learn music or production. I have definite goals set to work in the music industry.
6. Irritating the dog next door so it might quit barking.
7. Ego. I own a Moog because I want to impress myself or others.
8. Collecting.
0voters
I just wanted satisfy my curiousity (and opinions) by putting up a small poll.
The subject regards who the users of Moog synthesizers are.
Feel free to participate.
You may check up to 3 boxes at the same time (if logically sound.)
You may not change answers afterward.
The poll runs indefinitely.
Over a hundred MU of modular. 9 Foogers and a Voyager and it ends up being just for my own amusement. Iāve done some shows, but in this town you have to work your butt off to make fast food salary in music. I have a good ārealā job, so playing free or next to it doesnāt bother me. I just donāt do it often. I turn down about 50% of offers to play for various reasons.
What is a musician? Indeed, a `professionalā musician?
It used to be that `professionalā meant you earn your living by doing something. It still does mean that, because we have a society geared more or less entirely to money.
But is the musician who earns money by it necessarily more professional in skill and attitude than someone who earns nothing from it?
Personally, I prefer to earn my money in other ways and leave my music completely free of all commercial and financial pressures. I regard myself as more skilled and more committed to music than many people who make money from it. Of course there are skilled and dedicated professional musicians, but there are also plenty of people who have little idea what theyāre doing and little interest in music for its own sake, who do a bit of vague knob tweaking and make a fortune out of the absurd state of the present music industry.
I prefer to ignore people like that. They donāt interest me and they have no bearing on what I do. Iām certainly not jealous of their success because the price paid for such success is too high. Iād much rather make real music than have that kind of `success.ā There are other ways to make a living, ways that donāt damage your musical sensibilities, leaving you free to make the music that really matters.
But that being so, we really have to question the whole concept of a `professionalā musician.
It really depends on the context of the term. Many still consider professional to mean that it is your primary job and primary source of income. Semi-proās earning some money and amateur/hobbyist making no money.
This categorization is not the same as skill level. Someone may very well be a āprofessionalā and make millions of dollars but have very limited skills. On the flip side I know many who are highly skilled and classically trained who choose to play only for the enjoyment and make no money at all.
That being said the poll should have included a choice for āmakes some moneyā.
My definition of a professional musician is one whose profession is music.
That is, their income and personal identity being directly tied to their music.
Whether a performer, engineer, recording artist, sound designer or whatever, thatās what they do and get paid for it.
It has nothing to do with skill level or style. Thatās subjective.
I agree thereās grey areas too.
There could be a chef who loves synths, but makes more money cooking.
His passion is music; his skills are in cooking. One supports the other.
Itās not a perfect poll.
Iāve omitted pissing off the dog next door for a fee too.
Just curious thatās all.
What is a rough profile of Moog users?
Nothing serious afoot here.
Strange that you have left out what I think would be a large proportion of usersā¦ that is those people who are not professional musicians but who do make some income from gigs and releases. Your options go from all to nothing.
Iām a systems engineer in my day job and that is where I earn my income. I have played piano since age 3 and could had chosen to make a living as a musician but I decided to make it a hobby. My day job pays for my hobby. The only time I make money is local gigging, and at the moment Iām not even using any synths in the southern rock band.
I had a prog rock band who was really putting on the hard sell for me to work with them. I would had loved the challenge of prog, but they rehearse four hours away and they gig theaters all over the northeast and canada. I had to turn it down, there was no way I could had squeeze that in with my day job and the fuel expenses would had eroded any profit, not to mention consuming almost all my personal time.
I have a serious day job and thatās where I earn my income. Iāve played piano since age 5, etc. and my day job pays for this hobby. The only music related income I make is from a couple of songs authored for the Rock Band video game, and 0.001 cents per stream of a couple of tunes on the web.
The Smashing Pumpkins contacted me to be their keyboard player. I would had loved the challenge of that, but theyāre on the west coast and I live in NY. It would have been ridiculous. Both ridiculously cool and impossible.
For those who said, by voting, that they want to irritate the dog next door with their Moog, theyād better have liquid cooled tweeters (not Twitters), otherwise they might see smoke, or smell something funny coming out of them before the dog next door even hears something annoyingā¦
@unfiltered37
Yeah but the neighbor himself might be annoyed long before the dog, thenā¦
@Vsyevolod
Yeah, but are they powerful enough (and cooled enough) to reach the barking dog next door, and shutting him up, before blowing up in smoke ? (especially if you play a 20KHz sine at full power for more than a few seconds continuously without hearing it yourself)
I tried to cover that with #2- but obviously made a mistake of omission.
I suppose I could have also included āI make less money from music than I invest into itā, but someone would probably find an error there too.
The point of all this was based on a pov that few pro musicians spend their time online.
They spend it making music.
It wasnāt meant to create hostility, guilt or whatever.
It was based on a conversation about 30 years ago at Roland where an employee took the point of view that Rolandās customer base were mostly pro musicians.
I took the other side of the argument: that most buyers had a day job that paid the bills and music was a hobby or sideline.
The poll was to see if i was wrong, things had changed or whatever. Thatās all.
Sorry if I offended anyone.
Cool thread, and a topic Iāve always wondered!
My case scenario: I play in multiple bands live and squeeze in some day job work (not much, but enough to smooth out the dips) This schedule creates an amazing lack of time to do anything other than maintain, if you know what I mean- So I dont have as many opportunities to grab a beer, get online and peruse forums, although I wish I did!
If you ask the same question over at the Keyboard Corner forum, youāll get a very different response. A lot of Pro musicians hang out over there and spend inordinate amounts of time on forums. One main reason why I donāt hang there anymoreā¦
I was not clear if Music being 100% of my income. OR if Moog gear makes 100% of my income. So I chose #2, which means I use my Moog gear and lots of others for making music, 100 per cent of the time? (I did not see the option to click more than one, and it does not allow you to go back and revote). I do suspect music studios are the new golf or boats - how rich professionals spend their hobby money.
Well, I play in weekend mainly cover bands, so the āno incomeā bracket doesnāt quite fit, but I certainly donāt earn a significant portion of my income playing.
Gear can be nice status items too, so thatās part of the deal.
I could certainly rig up a cheaper bass pedal set up, but it would never be the same, Iād always be GASsing for the real deal.
Itās really rare for a musician to be employed as a musician. I use my Minimoog and other gear to make music, and outlay an amount of my income towards building a studio and producing music. I have loved synths and studied analog synthesis at Berklee in the mid 80s so I imagine it could be minimized the degree to which I tie my peace of mind to my art. But money is a necessary evil. Many musicians who earn their bread playing and creating music would still do so whether or not it was gainful employment. And the way that many people view art in general is to view the monetary aspect of it as a side issue, if not an annoying part of it. Anyway, Iāve seen many different synths come and go (at least in the scope of my social circle) and told myself around 10 years back if I found another mini D Iād get it, because I love the sound, and the totally intuitive interface.
As a side note I met Bob Moog when he came to Berklee at the time I was a student. He was like a super nerd in my opinion and very kind, spoke with me one on one and itās a cherished memory, as are my memories enjoying playing and creating music with my Minimoog.
music is pure hobby for me. if I happen to pay a show at some point, cool. chances are I wonāt make any money even if I do I probably spent more money getting to the gig , LOL. I would say in the 15 years or so since I started playing guitar in high school and jamming with friends I have probably made $11.
